Project Finish Line: Tools to Strengthen Community College...
Transcript of Project Finish Line: Tools to Strengthen Community College...
Project Finish Line: Tools to Strengthen
Community College Completion
Pave the Way Conference
October 19, 2017
Green River College North Seattle College Seattle Central College South Seattle College
Allison Warner Alice Melling Naina Eshwar Erin Barzen
Walla Walla
Community College
Puget Sound
Educational Service
District
Private Consultant
Kristi Wellington-Baker Hilary Loeb Bob Hughes
Maureen Pettitt
Presentation Overview
• Introductions
• Project Finish Line overview
• Evaluation findings and discussion
• Closing thoughts
Introductions: In Pairs or
Triads at Your Table
• What role do you play in supporting student retention and
completion?
• What are some barriers to student success that you hope
to address to your work?
• What is one thing at Pave the Way that you are hoping to
apply when you return to work?
Data Sources: WA OSPI student level database, WA SBCTC data warehouseAll data provided to CCER by WA ERDC
Completing a Degree or Transferring to a 4-Year College within Three Years
Rationale for Creating a Completion Culture
Data Sources: WA OSPI student level database, WA SBCTC data warehouseAll data provided to CCER by WA ERDC
Rationale for Creating a Completion Culture
Data Sources: WA OSPI student level database, WA SBCTC data warehouseAll data provided to CCER by WA ERDC
Rationale for Creating a Completion Culture
What is
Project Finish
Line?Completion
Coaches at Seattle Colleges and Green
River College
Puget Sound Coalition Learning
Community
Regional Change in Campus Cultures
Completion Coaches at Seattle Colleges and Green River
Community College
• Walla Walla Community College award winning model
• Reengagement of “potential completers”
• Changes to infrastructure, policies and practices
• Gates Foundation funding for one coach/campus with college match
• Goal of return on investment=69 FTE students/Completion Coach
Completion Coaches at Seattle Colleges and Green
River CollegeResults
8,016
3,809
2,193
Students Identified for CompletionCoaching
Students Responding to CompletionOutreach Efforts
Students Agreeing to Work withCompletion Coaches
Completion Coaches at Seattle Colleges and Green
River College
Results
321
1,009
1,330
1,147
Completes a Certificate Earns a Two-Year or a BADegree
Total CredentialsCompleted
Total Unique StudentCompletions
• Collaboration with Dr. Rob Johnstone of National
Center for Inquiry & Improvement
• External evaluation led by Professor Bob Hughes
• Professional learning community supported through
the Puget Sound College and Career Network
• Changes in infrastructure, policies, practices aimed at
supporting completion
Data Sources: WA OSPI student level database, WA SBCTC data warehouseAll data provided to CCER by WA ERDC
External
Evaluation
Findings
Campus Culture
Commitment from across
Campus
Systems Responsive
to need
Finances and Funding
Our Methods
We conducted analysis from:
• A review of the peer-reviewed literature on completion and retention
• Initial interviews with 16 key staff, administrators, and faculty at Walla Walla Community College to establish factors supporting success
• Initial interviews with 48 key staff, administrators, and faculty at Green River College, South Seattle College, Seattle Central College, and North Seattle College
• Questionnaire data collected from participants (n=101) attending six Learning Community events – note: this includes additional colleges and organizations
Initial Work Suggested Impact from Four Factors
The four impact themes identified from the work of Walla
Walla Community College:
1. Campus Culture
2. Commitment from Across Campus
3. Systems that are Responsive to Need
4. Finances and Funding
Each has significance – completion coaching as a focal point
for systemic change
Focal Point for Already Ongoing Work
Completion Coaching Provided Framework and People for Dialogue on:
• Systemic work
• Collaboration across units and externally
• Identification of specific barriers and remedies
In all cases (both Walla Walla Community College and the four
replicating sites), completion coaching was a natural next step in work
underway such as TRIO and AANAPISI projects
The Student Experience
(What the data tell us)
• n = 2,347 Students from four colleges over a two-year period (note:
slight difference from funder report)
• Types of connections (in-person, personal and blast e-mail,
appointment and robocall phone contacts) slightly varied by campus
– One campus relied heavily on robocalls
• 1,154 students in contact with a completion coach finished the
degree or certificate they sought (note: slight difference from funder
report)
The Student Experience
(What the data tell us)
Demographics Gender
Male 51.6%
Female 48.2%
Race/Ethnicity
White, non-Hispanic 44.4%
Hispanic 10.4%
African American 11.6%
Asian/Pacific Islander 14.1%
Native Am/Native Alaskan 1.5%
Other/Not Reported 14.0%
The Student Experience
(What the data tell us)
Impact
• Of the total reported population, just under half (n = 1,154)
of the people receiving personal contact completed in the
time period of this study, finished
• Note: This holds true for the total time of the project, as
well as for six-month segments of time of the project (i.e.,
first six months and last six months).
Did Not Finish 50.8%
Finished 49.2%
The Student Experience
(What the data tell us)
• Coaching Positively Impacted All Groups, Regardless of
Demographics
– Ethnicity and age
– Eligibility for needs-based supports such as BFET, State Needs
Grant, or Pell Grant (important to note that 69% of students
received financial aid, with the mean number of award types =
2.8)
– Student Intent (transfer, prof/tech, or certificate)
– Began career in basic skills or developmental levels
– No statistically significant differences among populations served
The Student Experience
(What the data tell us)
For the most part, the method of personal contact does not correlate
with completion
– These have similar positive relationships to completion:
• In-person meetings
• Phone meetings
• E-mail exchanges
– The data on robocalls come from one college, and we were
unable to gauge their impact
Small Group Discussion: Guiding Questions
1. What does a culture of completion look like on our
college campus?
2. What steps did our college take to build our culture?
3. How did these efforts promote equity of access to
success for historically underserved students on our
campuses?
Factors Contributing to Project Finish Line
Impact: Theme 1 Importance of Campus Culture
• Culture of collaboration
• Relationships among staff
• Relationships with students
• Culture of innovation
• Student completion as a measure of the college’s success
Factors Contributing to Project Finish Line
Impact: Theme 1 Importance of Campus Culture
Campus Culture
• Project built on existing structures that supported collaboration and innovation
• Coaches’ holistic scope allowed them to bridge multiple areas of student services
At the end: “…We're trying to look at a completion model that really looks at the
lifecycle of students from the very beginning when they're exploring what
careers they want to focus on through that advising component and then as
they get closer to graduation and completion coaches really push them
forward to get through.”
• Support from across campus
• Support from leadership
Factors Contributing to Project Finish Line Impact: Theme 2
Importance of Commitment from across Campus
Factors Contributing to Project Finish Line Impact:
Theme 2 Importance of Commitment from across Campus
Commitment from Across Campus
• Strongest evidence: All four campuses have institutionalized completion coaching
• Strong buy-in from staff, and administration
At the end: “Our leadership – not just from Student Services but across the board – is well aware and supportive of our efforts. They're seeing it and then they're voicing their support of it because they're seeing the impact that it has on students and on departments.”
Small Group Discussion: Guiding Questions
1. What does a culture of completion look like on our
college campus?
2. What steps did our college take to build our culture?
3. How did these efforts promote equity of access to
success for historically underserved students on our
campuses?
• Technology systems
• Access and use of data
• Policies and procedures
Factors Contributing to Project Finish Line Impact:
Theme 3 Importance of Systems that are Responsive to Need
Factors Contributing to Project Finish Line Impact: Theme 3
Importance of Systems that are Responsive to Need
• Policies adopted to reduce barriers (e.g., graduation and admission fees)
• Exploration or adoption of policies and practices that fit each college (e.g., auto-conferral of degrees)
• Some progress on data systems (especially one of the college’s data dashboard)
• Some challenges in all colleges managing the multiple sets of data required to track student progress (shadow Excel files and lists)
• All colleges agree on the need to include their college’s instructional unit in the future
Factors Contributing to Project Finish Line Impact: Theme 3
Importance of Systems that are Responsive to Need
At the end: “We're pretty intentional about examining our own practices
such that we kind of get out of our own way as much as
possible. As a result of some of those conversations we've
changed some of our internal practices so that completion isn't
necessarily a process or an unnecessary burden for students.
We're trying to streamline the lifecycle and the processes
associated with it as much as possible.”
Small Group Discussion: Guiding Questions
1. What does a culture of completion look like on our
college campus?
2. What steps did our college take to build our culture?
3. How did these efforts promote equity of access to
success for historically underserved students on our
campuses?
• Financial barriers must be addressed
• Sustained funding
• Importance of the foundation
Factors Contributing to Project Finish Line Impact:
Theme 4 Importance of Finances and Funding
Factors Contributing to Project Finish Line Impact:
Theme 4 Importance of Finances and Funding
• Each college has committed to continuing completion coaching after
the grant funding
• Each college has developed extraordinary funding to support
students who are completing.
At the end: “The completion agenda is not only internal to the campus,
but the Foundation has also utilized [positive stories] as a way to
ask donors to donate so that we can help students directly and
look at community partners who want to engage in a completion
agenda.”
Conclusions from the Data
(What Made a Difference?)
Triangulation between quantitative and qualitative data suggest:
• Whole systems approach
• Focused effort
• Using data to inform decisions on individuals and on systems
• Opportunities and encouragement for innovation
• Learning Communities
• Support/expert advice from Walla Walla Community College
and Kristi Wellington Baker, specifically
Conclusions from the Data
(What Made a Difference?)
Triangulation between quantitative and qualitative data
suggest a need to:
• Continue efforts to refine and develop completion coaching
at each campus
• Continue to develop a systems approach on each campus
• Continue to connect to other campuses as they learn and
innovate
• Develop stronger connections to the Instructional units at
each campus
Concluding Discussions and Questions
• What have you learned that you can implement on your
campus or organization?
• What are some concrete steps that you can take to
support postsecondary completion efforts?
• What further questions did this session raise?
Resources• Presentation and Materials:
https://coalition.psesd.org/resource-repository/
• Road Map Project Community and Technical College Report http://www.roadmapproject.org/data-center/reports/
• Puget Sound College and Career Network Website http://psccn.org
• AACC Completion College Fact Sheet http://www.aacc.nche.edu/About/completionchallenge/Documents/Completion-Fact_Sheet.pdf
• Bailey, Thomas R., Shanna Smith Jaggars, and Davis Jenkins. Redesigning America's Community Colleges: A Clearer Path to Student Success. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2015.
• The Murky Middle Project https://www.eab.com/technology/student-success-collaborative/members/white-papers/the-murky-middle-project
• Please contact Ury Salinas to be added to our Newsletter mailing list: [email protected]